This invention relates to the field of process control. More particularly the invention relates to generating instructions for controlling a process according to an engineering run request, and compiling information concerning materials that are processed according to the engineering run request.
Engineers involved in the design and fabrication of semiconductor devices and materials are constantly seeking ways to make improvements to the product or the manufacturing process used to fabricate the product. To make these improvements, engineers at times wish to perform experiments involving changes to the process or xe2x80x9crecipe.xe2x80x9d The materials processed according to the changed recipe are tested and data is collected to determine whether the changes had the desired effect.
Conventionally, engineers request changes in the manufacturing process by filling out a form, referred to as an Engineering Run Request (ERR). The Engineering Run Request provides specific engineering-related processing instructions that change the process flow used on a particular lot of material. The Engineering Run Request instructions may request additional inspections or processing that is completely different than normal to produce xe2x80x9cskew lots.xe2x80x9d After completion by the engineer, the Engineering Run Request typically receives a number of approval signatures before it may be implemented
Once submitted and approved, the Engineering Run Request is associated with a particular lot of material as the material moves through the factory. At each step in the process flow, the process operators must determine, based on the Engineering Run Request form, what changes in the process are requested, and to which lot of material the changes apply.
Typically, once the materials are processed according to the Engineering Run Request, the requesting engineer collects and analyzes engineering data on the lot of material to verify whether the experiment was successful. A material review board must then determine whether the material meets a customer""s requirements so that it may be shipped to the customer, or whether the material must be scrapped.
There are several problems with this conventional scenario. First, the engineer may not include enough detail in the Engineering Run Request for the process operators to completely understand what changes are being requested. Even if the changed process steps are correctly stated on the Engineering Run Request, the operator may perform the steps incorrectly, or perform the changed steps on the wrong lot of material.
The engineering data collected by the engineer is often never reported, but instead ends up in the engineer""s files where it is never seen by other interested parties. Later, another engineer at the same or another manufacturing facility who is not aware of the other engineer""s work requests the same or a similar experiment on another lot of material. This duplication of effort consumes engineering time and wastes company resources.
When the material review board must determine what to do with the lot of material processed according to an Engineering Run Request, they typically must call the engineer to their meeting to present the results of the experiment. This is another waste of time and resources.
What is needed, therefore, is an automated system for reliably providing to process operators process change instructions associated with an engineering experiment, verifying that the process changes have been correctly implemented at each step in the process, and making the results of the engineering experiment readily available to the company community.
The above and other needs are met by a computerized system for providing special processing instructions for processing materials in a production process, and for providing historical information related to the materials processed according to the special processing instructions. The system includes a request entry device through which requesting personnel may input special processing information indicating a way to process the materials differently from a normal way of processing of the materials. An instruction processing device, which is linked to the request entry device, receives the special processing information and generates the special-processing instructions based thereon. A process station device, which is linked to the instruction processing device, receives the special-processing instructions, and presents the special-processing instructions to material-processing personnel. The process station device also provides for inputting material information from the material-processing personnel, where the material information indicates one or more characteristics of the material processed according to the special-processing instructions. The system also includes a relational database in which the special processing information and the material information are compiled and related. An information retrieval device, which is linked to the relational database, accesses the relational database, searches the relational database for material information related to special processing information, or searches the relational database for special processing information related to material information.
Using the system, an engineer who wishes to have a lot of material processed in a special way for an engineering experiment may provide process operators with special-processing instructions. The system also allows the operators to input information and test data related: to the material that is processed according to the special instructions. Further, the system makes the results of the engineering experiment readily available to the company community in the relational database. By accessing the database, company engineers may view the results of previously-conducted experiments, and may thereby avoid wasting company resources by unnecessarily repeating the same experiments.
In preferred embodiments, the instruction processing device generates the special-processing instructions as a sequential list of actions to be performed to process the materials according to the special processing information, and provides an action from the list to the process station device for presentation to the material-processing personnel. The process station device receives the action from the instruction processing device, presents the action to the material-processing personnel, and receives input from the material-processing personnel indicating that the action is complete. Based on the input from the material-processing personnel indicating that the action has been completed, the process station device generates an action-complete indication and provides the action-complete indication to the instruction processing device. Only after the instruction processing device has received the action-complete indication associated with the most previous action does it provide a next action from the sequential list to the process station device. In this manner, the system ensures that the material-processing personnel proceed to the next action in the list only after completing all previous actions in the list.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for providing special-processing instructions for processing materials in a production process, and for providing historical information related to the materials processed according to the special-processing instructions. The method includes (a) inputting special processing information indicating a way to process the materials differently from a normal way of processing of the materials, (b) generating the special-processing instructions based on special processing information, (c) presenting the special-processing instructions to material-processing personnel, and (d) receiving material information from the material-processing personnel, where the material information indicates one or more characteristics of the material processed according to the special-processing instruction The method also includes (e) compiling and relating the special processing information and the material information in a relational database.